ALBUMS

Back in 1984

2009, 01:02:03

The songs - put down with a Sequential Circuits synthesiser, an SC Drumtrax, and Fender electric and Harmony acoustic guitars - reflect a mix of influences and revolve around love, friendship and self-doubt

These songs were written and recorded in 1984 and 1985 and recorded by Woolley on a Tascam four track in an 18th Century attic flat. His neighbour on the ground floor of Hawthorn House, Chapel Allerton, Leeds, was former Red Ladder Theatre colleague (and established singer and actress) Elizabeth Mansfield. “Want to sing some of my songs?” Woolley asked one grey summer day. Liz, with her inimitable smile and great generosity, foolishly said: “Yes, all right.” So, over the next nine months, these nine tracks were completed (between scriptwriting and angsting for him, and childcare and acting for her) with much tea, many cigarettes, but – as far as can be remembered – no drugs or alcohol.

The songs – put down with a Sequential Circuits synthesiser, SC Drumtrax and Fender electric and Harmony acoustic guitars – reflect a mix of influences and revolve (as so much pop music does) around love, relationships and self-doubt. Some have fringe theatre feminist (“Gamblin’”) or protest (“Stop the War”) echoes, some a more personal feel (“Melancholy”, “Behind the Line”) and others a pretty straightforward get up and dance disco sound (“Out Here”, “We’re the Ones”) – albeit without the big production of that era. “This Girl” was later used in Woolley’s 1988 feature film “Girl from the South”.

The songs (after a long time lost in limbo) were digitised by Chris Bouchard at YorkUniversity in 2006 and remixed by up and coming sound designer Yanto Browning in Brisbane, Australia in 2009. Woolley plays, or programmed, all instruments on all tracks.

Though all these songs were written in the eighties – and reflect Woolley’s concerns (and obsessions) then – tracks 1,2,3 and 6 were recorded in the attic flat in Leeds in the period 1984-1989, whilst the rest were recorded in nineties Amsterdam, in a bungalow by a canal just to the north of Amsterdam, Holland, and brought to fruition with the support of his partner at that time. The first batch, like the songs sung by Liz Mansfield on CD A, have a fully worked out drum track and instrumentation. The second batch relies on a simple repetitive rhythm on drums and unobtrusive synthesiser and guitar accompaniment – here the songs rather than arrangements are the important thing.

The songs vary in style from the Dire Straits sound-alike, “On the Shelf”, to the simple Country & Western lament, “Nothing More Between Us”, from the gentle Boogie of “You are You” to the sub-Springsteen intensity of “Man of Today”. More personal than the songs sung by Liz Mansfield, they reflect the ebb and flow of the writer’s private life: the guarded optimism of fatherhood (“Watch the Morning”), contradictory worries about commitment and rejection (“Outside”, “You know I love You”) and the loneliness of the young gay or bisexual man alone in communist Budapest in 1987 (“Boy from the West”). Some hark back to Woolley’s political concerns of the seventies, such as “C’mon Kid”, which is loosely based on a thirties poem written at the time of the Jarrow hunger march.

These songs too (after a long time lost in limbo) were digitised by Chris Bouchard at YorkUniversity in 2006 and remixed by up and coming sound designer Yanto Browning in Brisbane, Australia in 2009. Woolley plays, or programmed, all instruments on all tracks.

Double Dutch

2009, 00:58:23

This double CD represents two periods between 1992 and 1999 that nevertheless merge into one, as both are dominated by RW’s relationship with his then partner (and lyricist on many titles) Dee Brillenburg Wurth

These CD’s represent two distinct periods between 1992 and 1999 that nevertheless merge into one, as both are dominated by Woolley’s relationship with his then Dutch partner – and lyricist on many titles – Dee Brillenburg Wurth. The first period (1992 to 1995) was spent living with her in a bungalow by a canal to the north of Amsterdam, where Woolley wrote his songs and (occasionally) ran the Dutch Film & Television Academy and Dee wrote scripts for television and (increasingly) became involved in the plight of war children in Africa. The second period, following their separation in 1996, saw Dee going to work in Africa and Woolley heading for Hong Kong, where he couldn’t forget about her, but could at least meld his memories and feelings of sadness into music.

The songs where Dee has penned the lyrics are usually from the female perspective and express doubts about the commitment demanded in a ‘grown-up’ relationship and the need to be sure, (‘Doubts”, “Pains not in the Parting”, “Psychic Wanderlust”, “Right Place, Right Time”), as well as the sheer joy of knowing another is there even if they are not, (“Talk to You”). The solo songs show Woolley’s move from annual celebrations of the relationship, (“52 Weeks”, “731 Days”, “316”), and gratitude for changes it has brought, (“Nearly Missed the Moment”, “Old Man”), to increasing scepticism that it can last, (“Check You’re Alright”, “Smiling Lips, Empty Eyes”), and eventual sadness that it is over, (“South China Mist”). New horizons open up in “Canton Kiss” and “Another Place, Another Time”, and male friendship is celebrated in “Never Never Land”, but the possibility of old love returning is still there at the end of the cycle in “Common Land”.

These songs too (after a long time lost in limbo) were digitised by Chris Bouchard at York University in 2006 and remixed by up and coming sound designer Yanto Browning in Brisbane, Australia in 2009. Woolley plays, or programmed, all instruments on all tracks.